Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Wolf
by Demo ODST
Summary: We all know the Legends of the Green clad Heroes, but those legends seldom tell the full story. The tale of the Wolf, is no exception.When a young man is pulled through a strange veil into the world of Twilight,his body is changed into the form of a wolf beginning his journey to become the hero of Hyrule.But, this youth's motivations are only focused on protecting someone he loves.
1. Prologue

**So this is just a teaser for the moment, i'd like to know if people are interested in reading more. if so, i will start writing this.**

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Illia brushed her long brown hair out of her eyes as she led Epona back to the tree house. She had just been washing the beautiful horse in the nearby spring. Her reddish brown fur was now clean and dust free, her coat seeming to shine in the evening sun. Illia smiled as she admired her own handiwork. She arrived in the clearing around the massive tree that had been cored into a house to find Link practicing with a wooden sword. The horse nuzzled her and she sat down at the foot of the house to watch. He held the sword in his right hand, giving the weapon a quick twirl, that although it looked easy, she knew she had never been able to perform it. He suddenly lunged at the dummy before him, the wooden stick flashing before him at a blinding speed. The blade was met with a resounding crack, followed by another so fast that she barely had time to realize that he was swinging again. He unleashed attack after attack on the dummy, so fast that all she really saw was a blur of motion, followed by the familiar resounding crack. Suddenly, he was spinning, swiping at the pole stuck in the ground with one of his feet. The wood snapped, causing the dummy to fall to the ground. Just as fast, he spun the blade around into a reverse grip and rammed the point down on the pumpkin head of the dummy.

"Wow, you must really hate that dummy." Link startled, the splintered wooden blade snapping back up for a split second. For such a slim young man, he was heavily muscled from wrangling goats and cattle all his life. His vibrant blue eyes and wild blonde hair made seem almost more animal than human.

"Oh, um hi, Illia. Didn't see you there." She laughed slightly as his face turned bright red. His white tunic was baggy on him, just like his brown trousers, both having been her father's old clothes. Her father was the village mayor, and had been the one to have found Link, alone in the forest, almost a decade prior.

"I noticed. Anyway, Epona is all clean now. I guess you two can go wrangle goats and get all filthy again." He chuckled as he walked over to Epona, gently patting her neck. The horse wrapped her head around him, almost as if she was hugging him.

"Haha, thanks Epona. You ready for a big trip in a few days?" the horsed whinnied in response, causing both of them to laugh. "Well, I'm sorry to say, but I ought to have Rusl take a look at this." He gestured at the splintered blade and stood. "Mind watching Epona for a bit? I don't want her to be alone." Illia instantly nodded, grinning.

"Of course. Don't be too long. Dad will kill me if I'm out after dark." Link chuckled and disappeared down the path, leaving her with her thoughts. "Well Epona, do you think he likes me?" Epona stared at her, almost as if she was raising an eyebrow at her. "Alright, just don't tell him, please." The horse whinnied and threw her head back, almost as if she was laughing.


	2. Chapter 1

**well, here's chapter one. i know it's a bit of a slow start, but i hope it ends up likable so please, rate and review**

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I grinned as I walked along the river, my destroyed wooden sword resting on my shoulder, Rusl and Uli's small house just upstream from me. A small blonde haired boy came running from the house to greet me, practically bouncing with excitement.

"Link! What brings you over here at this time?" I chuckled and ruffed up his hair with my free hand.

"Oh, just splintered another one. How's that gift of yours coming Colin?" he batted my hand away as I spoke, a slightly disgruntled expression on his face.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise anymore!" I couldn't help but grin as he spoke, Rusl being bad at keeping secrets, had already told me what his son was making me.

"Well, in any case, I can't wait for our annual fishing trip next month." Rusl would always go to a lake downstream once a year to fish. The past three years, he had been taking myself and Colin with. Colin, the second fishing was mentioned, went pale.

"Um yeah. So you really destroyed that sword. What did you do to it?" I laughed as we came onto the porch, showing him out it split along the center of the blade.

"Beating on dummies, ya know, the usual." He laughed as I knocked on the door. His mother, Uli, opened the door, a smile instantly spreading across her face. Uli was a very kind hearted woman, and had acted as a second mother to me since the day I was found. She kept her blonde hair neat and tidy at all times, seeming to perfectly frame her very motherly light blue eyes.

"Link! It's nice to see you, what brings you around here?" she instantly pulled me into a hug, me unable to fight back even though she was at least half a head shorter than me and pregnant. I returned the hug before I spoke.

"Well, I broke another sword. Where's Rusl?" she waved me in, simply gesturing at the couch in the living room.

"Oh hey Link. Broke another sword?" I grinned as I dropped on the couch beside him. Although he was clearly a hardened warrior, the hard lines of his face seemed as kind as his wife's soft face, and seemed like he was always ready to laugh.

"Well, what do you think?" I passed him the training sword and he placed the real one he had been honing back in it's sheathe.

"Well, never seen one break like this and still hold together. I'll try to finish the latest one tomorrow." I nodded and kicked back, the aroma of one of Uli's savory stews making my mouth water.

"Well, as much as I hate saying it, I better get back. I left Illia to keep an eye on Epona. And we all know how her father gets if she isn't home by sundown." Rusl chuckled as I stood and stretched, yawning in the process. I said my goodbyes to the small family, leaving the broken sword with them. I glanced back at the house and sighed, knowing that all I had at home was cold bread and dried meat. The trek back to my own tree house took maybe fifteen minutes at a brisk pace, but I found myself in no hurry to get there. Illia had been increasingly trying to be around me of late, and I had never been fully comfortable around her. Which never made any sense to me, because I definitely didn't dislike her, and even I had to admit, in the years I had known her, she had changed from the cute little girl wanting to care for a horse, into a beautiful young woman. And that definitely didn't help my comfort level around her. So, instead of hurrying home like I should, I simply meandered toward my house, occasionally stopping to look at a particularly pretty flower or interesting insect. I stopped at the small rise leading toward the woods my house was in, staring back at the small village below, seeming perfect in the dying evening light. I let a small smile spread across my face before setting off into the woods, following the path to my clearing. The house itself was carved into a living tree, something that took me six months to do, almost four years ago now. I had made a small shed for Epona with what I had pulled out of the massive tree, as well as a small fenced in area for her to wander without wandering away. I stepped into the clearing, instantly hearing the soft nickered greeting from Epona.

"Hey girl. Sorry I took so long." she tossed her head and neighed, almost as if she was annoyed with me. I shrugged and glanced up at my window, suddenly realizing that the lanterns inside were lit. I hurriedly climbed the ladder and slipped inside, seeing Illia jump from where she was tending to a stew. She smiled and rolled her eyes, taking a quick taste of her stew, although, by the smell, it was undoubtedly perfect. She had shoulder length brown hair that, although she took care of, was generally left to its own devices. Which ended up making it frame her gentle face almost perfectly. Her vibrant green eyes almost seemed to pulse with life, making her all the prettier.

"I thought I might cook something up for you. I have no clue why you ever decided to live on your own, we all know your cooking entails grabbing cold food from the cellar and plopping it on a plate." I smirked, blood rushing up to my cheeks.

"Well, it's not like I am. Seems like every night, you're over here, trying to cook me dinner or do my laundry." She laughed as she responded, dishing out two portions of the stew into bowls and dropping them onto my small table.

"If I didn't, you be wearing the same filthy tunic from last week. Now sit down and eat." I sighed and sat down, pulling one of the bowls close to me.

"ya know, you really should be getting home. You know how your father gets when your out late. She shrugged, dropping into the seat across from me and pulling the other bowl to her. I was already eating the delicious stew when she finally responded.

"I know. I've just been feeling so alone lately, especially at home. Want to spend more time with people my own age." I grunted, a smirk crossing my face before I could stop it.

"Illia, I'm two years older than you. I don't think that counts as the same age." She glared at me and finished off her own bowl before dropping it next to the basin.

"Closer than anyone else in Ordon. Anyway, I really should get back." I almost carelessly waved to her as she grabbed her bag and slipped it over her shoulder. Her knee long dress disappeared out the door and I sighed, suddenly wishing she would step back through.

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Illia made her way back to the village, headed for the center of the small village. It was well past sundown and she knew her father was going to be pissed. She bit her lip while she stood on the porch, hesitating. She finally squared her shoulders and pulled the door open, ready for whatever was to come.

"where were you illia?" she sighed as she moved toward th stairs that led up to her room. Her father had been standing in the living area, waiting for her. in his younger days, he had been a very big, heavily muscled man, but as the years went by, he did less goat wrangling and more town running, putting on a fair margin of extra weight. But, that didn't stop his stern expression from being any less intimidating. She of all people knew that under that extra weight, was the same heavily muscled man he had always been.

"Link's house. Had to wash Epona, and you know how bad he is at cooking." Her father put on a disgusted face, but not at what she said, but rather the memories of Link's cooking. He let a laugh ring out, surprising her slightly.

"Well, Lad like him deserves some good food. Aye, that he does." She stared at him, puzzled. It was almost as if he was talking to himself.

"Father?" he startled slightly and chuckled nervously.

"Oh, um, he didn't tell you?" she placed her hands on her hips and stared at him, letting a small amount of anger show on her face.

"Tell me what, Father?" he shuffled his feet, fidgeting nervously.

"Um, because Uli is so close to giving birth, um Rusl asked Link to take our gift to the royal family in his stead. So he can be with his wife. And Link agreed. He leaves the night after tomorrow. But, don't worry Illia, the main roads a very safe, and he'll only be gone a few days…" she continued to glare at him and he shriveled away, as if her eyes were causing him to melt.

"He did what?! And he didn't tell me! Gah I'm going to kill him!" she clenched her fists and was about to storm off when her Fathers voice stopped her.

"He probably doesn't want to worry you is all." She glared at him again and he shriveled up again. She stormed up the stairs and dropped onto her bed, not even bothering to change into her night clothes.

"Why the hell would he not tell me that!? I mean, we've been best friends since we were kids!" a voice in her head seemed to respond for her.

_Because you two aren't that close anymore. You've known that for a while._ She cursed and rolled over, facing the window.

"Link where did I screw up with you? You used to spend all your free time with me, now, all you care about is that stupid sword training!" she audible cursed as a single tear slipped out of her eye. She eventually slipped into a fitfully sleep, permeated by dreams of a certain blonde boy wrapping his arms around her, their lips just a hairs width apart…

Illia jerked awake, the sun already beginning to rise outside her window. She quickly changed and rushed downstairs, grabbing a loaf of bread and her bag before rushing out of the house and toward Links house. She knew that he almost never woke up early unless someone shouted at him, so she slipped into Epona's pin. The horse looked up to her quizzically staring at her as she slowly put her saddle on her and slipped into it.

"Come on girl." The horse whinnied to her and she guided Epona out of the pin and into the woods. After a short while, she arrived at a small natural spring, with a small ramp leading down to the water's edge. She slipped out of the saddle and led the horse into the clear, knee deep water. Most of the spring was shallow, except for a very deep trench that encompassed the entire back half of the arc. Massive boulders rose up from these deep waters, covered in strange runic symbols that were so ancient, no one knew what they meant. It was said that a spirit lived in the spring, but she had never seen any proof of it. she let out a sigh and began needlessly cleaning Epona again.


	3. Chapter 2

**and here's chapter two! Fyi, i'm hoping to show in this chapter that Ordon village is bigger than in the game, with more than just five kids, even thought they are the main kids in the village.**

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"Oy! Link! Yo awake up there?!" I groggily shook myself awake. I knew the sun had been up for at least an hour, but I was dreading the thought of having to wrangle the goats and cattle the day before a big trip. I finally dragged myself over to the window and peeked out, seeing Fado down in the clearing below. He was a dark skinned, dark haired and powerfully built man. But, although he looked the part of a brute, he, like the majority of Ordon, was actually very kind hearted.

"Oh, hey Fado, I'll be down in a minute, sorry, must have dozed off or somethin'." Fado laughed and waved it off.

"Don't worry about it, look, I'm giving you today and tomorrow off. Get packed and get some rest. You got a long road ahead of you pal. I can handle the goats just fine today." I mentally breathed a sigh of relief before slumping back onto my makeshift bed. It was on a balcony I had carved above the door, out of sight from anyone who just barged in, but still a part of the main room. I was about to go back to sleep when I heard a knock at the door. I groaned and tugged my shirt back on and slid down the ladder leading to the main floor. I opened the door to find Colin pacing back and forth on my porch.

"Hey, what are doing up here?" he stopped his pacing and pointed to the small paddock beside my tree home.

"I overheard dad and Mayor Bo talking about Illia this morning. Said she stormed out of the house this morning without even saying good morning. And given Epona isn't in her pin, I'd say Illia took her to the spring." I nodded and yawned still not quite awake.

"Yeah, I'll go check to be sure." I was about to shut the door when he spoke again.

"Well, when you're done, swing by my house. I finished my present to you." I nodded groggily and waved him off. It toke me minutes to hunt down my riding boots, pulling them on as soon as I found them. I then stretched, yawned, and grabbed a piece of dried venison from the cellar. It was hard and extremely salty, but I chewed on it anyway as I walked into the forest. Birds were chirping merrily all around me as small animals skittered away from me as I approached. The half hour walk felt like it toke longer than that, but I finally arrived at the spring, and could faintly hear Illia's quiet voice over the den of the forest. I smirked and trotted down into the spring, seeing illia and Epona standing in the center. She was needlessly brushing Epona's fur as she hummed a lullaby that Epona had always loved.

"Hey Illia." I couldn't help but smile at her as I leaned up against the dirt embankment. She startled when I spoke, quickly replacing her excited expression with a glare.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to Hyrule instead of Rusl?" I sighed as I pulled my boots off before walking into the thigh high water.

"Because I didn't know how to. And I don't want you to worry about me. I do have a decent understanding of how to take care of myself. And I'll have Epona. I'll be fine." She shrugged and focused on the horse beside us. I could see the sadness in her eyes, and let silence fall between us, not knowing what else to say. After a few minutes, she finally broke the silence.

"We're still friend's, right?" I gently placed a hand on her shoulder and forced her to face me.

"Never going to stop. And I know I don't show it, but thank you. For everything you do for me. I thought living alone would be nice, but as it is, I just ended up alone. Sorry I'm bad at showing it." she wrapper her slender arms around my chest and I did the same.

"Of course. And it's okay. Well, I'm sure you need Epona right now." I chuckled as I let go of her.

"Nah. Spend some time with her. Fado gave me the day off, and I kinda told Colin I'd swing by his place." She smiled and nodded, stroking Epona's white mane.

"Alright, I take her back to her pin in a little while." I smiled to her before walking back to the bank and slipping my boots on. We waved good bye and I decided to run back to town, rather than walk. The thirty minute walk only took me five at a decent run, myself feeling free, almost like a wild animal rather than a human. I reached the edge of town and stopped, slowing to a walk. I waved to a few of the villagers as I passed, ignoring most of them until the shop keeper, Sera, started waving furiously at me. She was a plump middle aged woman, and was generally very kind, unless you tried to steal from her store, as I learned the hard way after I first came to Ordon. Almost a decade later, my ass was still sore from the spanking I got.

"Hey, something up?" she had tears in her eyes as she sobbed into her apron.

"It's Link! He's gone! If you see him, will you point him my way?" I raised an eyebrow at her, knowing she was talking about her cat.

"Yeah, he's standing right in front of you." She glared at me for a few seconds before dhe fought her sobbing down enough to speak.

"I mean my cat!" I gently clapped her shoulder as I responded.

"I know, and I'll keep an eye out for him. Bye!" she waved good bye to me as I walked away, rolling my eyes. I had never understood why she named her cat after me. I barely made it twenty feet up the river bank when I heard shouting from across the bridge that lead to the village mill.

"Link! Hey man, have you seen Illia lately?" I sighed as I turned toward the heavily muscled teen. He was seventeen, just a year younger than myself. He was dark skinned and dark haired, like his father Fado, and we were great friends up until six months ago, when he asked Illia out, with her saying yes.

"Yes Mark, last I saw, she was up at the spring, cleaning Epona." He never seemed to have figured out that I didn't like him anymore.

"Oh… how come you always know where my girlfriend is, and yet I never do?" I laughed mirthlessly, him not even seeming to notice that it wasn't genuine.

"Because I try to always know where my horse is, which is almost always with her. We did grow up under the same roof, remember?" he laughed as I spoke, me not joining him.

"Yeah, fair point. See ya around!" he trotted off toward the forest and I sighed finally reaching Colin's house. I gently knocked and Colin answered the door, a beautifully made fishing pole in his hands. I smiled, trying to seem genuinely surprised as he handed it to me.

"There Link! I'm so sorry it toke me this long to finish it, but I wanted it to be perfect." He was grinning from ear to ear as I inspected the fishing rod, impressed at the quality Colin had managed. For an eleven year old boy, he was quite skilled.

"It's awesome Colin, why don't you grab yours, and we'll go fishing today?" he grinned and rushed back inside before rushing out, his own smaller rod in hand. I smiled and led the way to the small dock on the other side of the river, just beyond the wheat mill. The entire way, the two of us were boasting about who would catch the biggest fish. Finally, we both dropped our hooks in the water, watching the bobbers for any signs of movement. Finally, my bobber slipped under and I yanked up on the rod. It bent slightly, but sure enough, a foot long green gill was wriggling on the end of the line.

"Awesome catch link!" I brought the rod to the shore and pulled the squirming fish off the hook.

"Hey, think Uli can make a good meal out of this one?" colin grinned with me, just before a brown and white blur shot between my legs, snatched the fish out of my hand, and darted away. I stared at Colin for a second, completely shocked, before taking off after the cat.

"Link! Get back here!" I almost responded, until I remembered that Colin was shouting at the cat. It slipped though the cat door at Sera's shop and I slid to a stop outside, resting my rod on the door frame.

"Colin, let me handle this." He nodded and I stepped through to find the cat and the fish on the counter, a bowl of milk in front of him.

"Oh Link, would you look at this! Link came home with a fish he caught all on his own! I feel so silly now, I yelled at him last night for eating our fish, and he ran away to replace it! What a good little kitty!" I froze in place, unsure of what to say. As much as I wanted to, how could I tell her that he stole the fish from me?

"Um, that's, well, great. I was just stopping by to tell you I saw him down by the river." And before she could respond, I spun on my heel and stormed out of the building. "Well Colin, we aren't getting our fish back." he was putting as I picked my rod up, about to head back to the river when I heard Rusl calling out.

"Hey, Link, I just dropped by your house to drop off your new sword. It's still hardened wood, but at least now its sharp, and I think I did a much better job hardening it. Maybe you won't break it so quick this time?" I laughed as I passed my rod off to Colin.

"Thanks Rusl! Hey Colin, mind if I store my rod with yours? Only time I go fishing is with you. He nodded and darted off for home as I did the same. When I arrived at my clearing, I noticed that it seemed abuzz with people. Mark and Illia were by Epona's pin, laughing about something, and Talo, his younger but far more mature brother Malo, and Beth were all standing by the ladder to my house. I rolled my eyes and walked straight up to Mark and Illia, and she instantly greeted me.

"Hey Link! Epona's all clean, not that she was dirty. And Rusl dropped off a new sword a few minutes ago!" I smiled and nodded to her, leaning on the fence.

"Yeah, he told me. Thanks for watching Epona for me." She smiled and the two of them slipped off, back toward town. I wasn't even able to take a step toward the ladder when the other three were swarming me.

"Hey Link! I saw Rusl drop off what looked like a sword! Can you teach me to fight with one! Please!?" I rolled my eyes at Talo as his brother spoke.

"Yes, please, I'm sure we could all benefit." I held a hand up as I reached the ladder.

"Whoa there you three, calm down. Yeah I'll show you some things, just let me go get it, shesh!" I was on the ladder before any of them were able to respond.


	4. Chapter 3

**hey, if it's possible, i'd love feed back of anykind on this chapter. particularly about the two sword fights.**

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Talo watched impatiently as Link climbed down the ladder, a wooden training sword tucked into his belt he turned to face them, gesturing toward his only remaining dummy.

"Well, what are you going to teach us?" Even Beth was bouncing at the prospect of learning about sword fighting. She was ten, with very light brown hair and extremely light blue eyes. She kept her hair fairly short, and was constantly worrying about her clothing. Talo himself was only eight, and was already taller than her. He had a long stick in his hand to practice whatever Link decided to show them. Malo was shorter than both of them, but even though he was only six, he had a better grasp of math than most adults in the village. He also acted way above his age, which always annoyed Talo.

"Just some basic stuff about striking. Now, there are three basic forms of strikes, back hand, fore hand, and thrust." He demonstrated all three, the first was a back hand, slashing across the bucket chest of the dummy, almost like he was slapping it with an open palm. Then, he slashed down ward,, one of the rusted iron bands holding the bucket together snapped from the force of the strike. Finally, he dug the tip of the blade into the barrel. It only went in an inch, and it clearly took a good amount of force to yank it back out. He tried to mimic all three movements, only managing to look clumsy. "The second thing, is the tip of the blade hits harder than the base. This has to do with leverage, so if you want to block, block at the lowest point of their blade. And hit with the highest point of yours."

"Why don't you show us how to string attacks together?" Beth had cut him off and he nodded in agreement.

"Alright." He took his ready stance, left side of his body angled slightly toward the dummy, sword loosely in his right hand, the point hovering level with his neck. "Forehand, backhand, fore, fore, back, thrust!" he attacked at each word, almost too fast to see. And although he did the type of strike he spoke of, the angle his blade came in at changed every time. "Kick, fore, thrust, thrust, thrust!" he used the kick to spin on the spot, slamming the blade across the tattered bucket. The first two thrusts slammed into the bucket, the third shoving deep into the pumpkin, all the way up to the hilt of the sword. He yanked the sword away, causing the pumpkin to shatter. "See, nothing to it!" they all stared at him, opened mouthed. The last remaining band on the bucket shifted slight, causing the tattered walls to drop away, just before the whole dummy fell over.

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I raised my eyebrow at all of their open mouthed expressions, until Talo finally shouted.

"That was Awesome!" he ran a short distance away and started swinging clumsily, at an imaginary enemy. I shook my head and walked into Epona's pin, gently stroking her mane and feeding her some of my last remaining oats.

"Sorry gal, I'll have to get more." She seemed to not care, and after a few seconds of munching, wrapped her neck and head over my shoulder in a pseudo hug. I laughed and returned it, stroking her neck.

"Hey, it's that monkey! Let's get it!" I startled at Talo's shout, seeing the three of them take off into the forest. I cursed and tightened the belly strap on Epona's harness before jumping into the saddle and gently slapping the reins on her neck. She took off running, following my gentle guiding after the three kids. I whipped past the spirits spring and slid to a stop at the river canyon. Beth was doubled over, panting at the entrance to the bridge.

"Where'd Malo and Talo go?!" she couldn't speak, only able to point down the bridge. With another gentle urging, Epona took off across the rope bridge. I knew that, after a short sprint through the woods, there was another spirit spring nestled into a cliff wall, fed by a river above. Beside the spring, was a tunnel that lead to a series of shallow canyons. A fork in those canyons split between the rest of the Faron woods, and the road to Hyrule. Malo was plopped on the ground by the spring, and I brought Epona to a stop yet again.

"Talo… I couldn't keep up, tunnel." I nodded, seeing the entrance to the tunnel blocked with a short gate. I urged Epona toward it, knowing she would jump in on her own. For a second, I thought she hadn't cleared it, but she landed on the other side and kept running. The tunnel opened up to the canyons and Epona slid to a stop at the fork. One way was gated off, but I could see a hole that a small boy could have easily fit through. The gate itself was locked for some reason, and I knew Epona couldn't jump it. The other way was the road to Hyrule, and there was a small shack with a filthy young man sitting out by a fire. I guided Epona over to him, instantly speaking.

"Hey, have you seen a young boy run past, just minutes ago?" he shook his head as he responded.

"No, why?" I shook my head, shifting slightly in the saddle.

"Do you have the key to that gate?" he nodded and I continued. "I need it, now!" he stood up from his stump, his massive afro shaking as he did so.

"Whoa man, it'll be really dark in the cave back there. I haven't been able to maintain my torches since Rusl asked me to seal it. Something about monsters. So here, take a lantern with you, free." I nodded in thanks, accepting both the lantern and the key. He was Ordon's lantern maker, and although I had never met him, I had one of his lanterns in my house, knowing how good they were. I guided Epona back to the gate, sticking the key in and opening it.

"Epona, stay here, I'll be right back." she whinnied and shook her head, clearly not liking it as I tied the already lit lantern onto my belt. "I'll be fine." And with that, I pulled my sword out and rushed into the cave just beyond the gate. After a few seconds of sprinting, I saw a broken stick ahead of me. I stopped at it, instantly recognizing it as what Talo had been using as a sword. A curse slid out of my mouth of its own accord as I sprinted through the cave. Suddenly a massive rat, almost as big as a dog, leapt at me, its fangs bared. I knocked it back with my arm, bewildered. Unfazed by being flung feet away, it snapped back up and charged at me, forcing me to swing the wooden sword at it. I felt something in the rat's back snap and it went limp.

"What the hell…?" I stared at the corpse for a few second before sprinting out of the caves. The next area was a large swampy wooded area. The ground was always soft, and some of the area turned into a lake during spring time, but on the far side of the bog was the only entrance to a canyon. Inside this canyon, was an access to a massive tree that Rusl had never let me go see on any of our hunting trips, and the gate on the other side of the bog was almost always locked. And I could already see from here that it was smashed open. Three blue skinned creatures stood guard at it, with a fourth patrolling the swamps. I had only ever heard descriptions of these creatures from Rusl, but he called them Bokoblins. My body seemed to shiver as I panted, everything I had heard about them was horrible, and that they were very tough to kill. I shook my fear off and charged into the bog, rushing straight at the patrolling one. It saw me coming and swung its strange weapon in a vertical arc at me. The weapon, if you could call it that, looked like a thick piece of wood with glistening jagged chunks of rock along the leading edge, making the blade look like a saw. I narrowly sidestepped the swing, doing my own counter swing at its exposed arm. The sharpened wood bit into the soft flesh and stopped on the bone. The creature screamed, drawing the attention of the others as I quickly swung again, smashing its weapon wrist, followed by a wild thrust into its chest. It squealed even more as I yanked at the sword, barely managing to pull it out in time to block the next bokoblin attack. The creature's sword sent a resound vibration through my body as I blocked the overhead swing. I sidestepped, angling my blade so that the creature's just slid off to the ground, followed by me slashing at its chest. Purple blood spurted from the shallow wound, but before I could swing again, the second bokoblin was swinging, horizontally this time. I managed to knock the clumsy swing away, just before thrusting the blade into its throat. Blood seeped out and I yanked the blade away, barely leaping far enough back for the third creature's swing to miss. The first was advancing on me already, so instead of counter swinging at the third, I swung at the first's sword arm. The blade bit into its flesh, and I felt the bone beneath snap. It squealed as the third swung again, and this time I blocked it close to the hilt of the enemy weapon. It staggered from the speed of the block, and I slammed my blade into the side of the creature's knee, causing it to bend in a way it shouldn't be able to. Just as quickly, I stepped back and slashed at its throat, letting just the tip of the blade connect. It's squealing stopped as it clutched at the torrent of blood flowing out. Right after that swing, I started one final swing at the first bokoblin, right onto the back of its neck. There was a crack and the last of the squealing stopped short.

I staggered back, away from the creatures, as the final one finally slumped over, dead. My entire body seemed to be vibrating as I shook violently. Bokoblin blood covered my tunic and right hand as I stared at the four corpses.

"I… I killed them. All four of them…. wi..with out a scratch!" I was stunned, barely thinking through the adrenaline rush. Suddenly, one word crossed my mind and I sprinted toward the smashed gate. There was a small clearing on the other side, surrounded by cliffs with one exception. To my right, there was a gap, big enough for a wagon to pass through. Leaning on the side opposite me, was what looked like a bridge span. I shrugged away my confusion and sprinted through the gap into another clearing. This one opened into a shear drop, with a massive tree some sixty yards off the cliff, and at least that in width. One of its roots wound down to the meadow, having been carved into a path to the tree. I almost didn't notice the small shop to my left. But there was no one manning it. Just as I was about to walk away, a high pitched voice stopped me.

"Oh, a costumer! Come buy something! Please!" I stared at the source of the sound, a bright red bird with a massive head.

"Um, did you see a boy pass through here?" the bird cocked its head at me, looking almost puzzled.

"Not on his own. A couple of monsters hauled one to the temple." I didn't even stop to say thank you before I was sprinting up the root. At the top, was a small balcony, the floor being made of stone, not wood, even though the wood blended seamlessly with it. Two small column's stood on the right and left of the stone center, barely as tall as I was. Between them, was a cylindrical wooden cage, with both Talo and the monkey he had been chasing trapped inside. Two more Bokoblins flanked the cage. Both the creatures were already charging at me. Thinking quickly I rushed straight at the cage and rolled, narrowly dodging both creatures attacks. As I came out of the roll, I swung at the right hand creature's knee, seeing it snap sideways and cause in to collapse off its feet. The second creature, which I had just noticed it's red skin, rather than blue, was already swinging at me. I barely brought my blade behind me in time, holding it vertical behind my head. The creature's strike slammed my wooden sword into my back and sent me sprawling. The pain in my back told me I was going to have some nasty bruising, but it was better than dead. I barely rolled out of the way of its next downward swing, swinging back as I stood. It blocked the swing, but I was already bouncing the blade up and back down, feeling it bite into the creature's wrist. It shrieked, dropping its weapon, and before it could react, I plunged the wooden sword into its chest, right where the heart should be. Its shriek was cut off and I placed a foot on its chest and pushed, yanking the sword out and artfully twirling it around, just before I slammed it onto the other bokoblin's neck, silencing it as well.


	5. Chapter 4

Rusl rushed toward the tunnel leading to the majority of Faron woods, his sword already drawn. He slid to a stop as he saw Link and Talo marching out of the caves, Talo unharmed. Link on the other hand, was covered in purple blood. They stopped and Rusl slipped behind a tree, listening to what was said.

"Link, please don't tell my dad. He'll get awfully mad if he learned I went running off into the forest alone." Link smiled and shoved him back toward town.

"I won't, just don't do it again." He nodded and ran down the path, right past Rusl's hiding place. He stepped out after Talo was out of sight, slipping his sword back into its scabbard.

"Too late for that. Colin saw you all rush into the forest, and he told me. Naturally, the whole town already knows and has been worried sick. Are you okay?" he nodded, awkwardly climbing up into Epona's saddle.

"My back hurts like hell, but it's nothing serious. Can't say the same for about half a dozen bokoblins though." Rusl chuckled as he turned back for the village, Epona instinctively following.

"Wow, that many? I've only ever seen two or three out in the forest, that's why I had Coro lock the gate. How'd you kill them with that thing?" his training sword was dripping with blood, but he could see damage all across the blade.

"Well, whack something hard enough, and its bone breaks. Plus, you put quite the point on this thing." Rusl grunted as they walked past the second gate, which he had already opened, entering Faron's spring.

"You should probably wash that off before you get to town. Might scare people" he smirked and dismounted, already wiping the wooden blade off in the shallow water.

"I'll catch up with you later Rusl." He nodded and continued down the path to the village, lost in thought about the young youth behind him.

* * *

I meandered into the clearing outside my house, my back aching so badly I doubted I was going to get a good night's sleep. Epona nickered softly to me and I glanced down the path to see Illia walking back down the path to the village. I watched her go, wishing she would come back, but after several minutes, I decided to put Epona back into her pin, and try to get some sleep. My single room house was already lighted, and I could smell a delicious soup already simmering above the fire. I couldn't help but smile slightly and pulled a bowl out, filling it with some of the soup. I was as delicious as it smelled and I pulled out a resealable canister, pouring what remained into it. The canister would allow me to reheat it, or just eat it cold, while keeping far longer than normally. I packed the canister away in a saddle bag, as well as dry provisions from the cellar and a few utensils. The other side of the saddle bag was already filled with blankets and other camping supplies. A sigh slipped out of my body as I finished and slipped up the ladder to my makeshift bed. The hard floor turned my aching back from just an ache, to full on pain as I struggled to find a position I could sleep in. it seemed to go on like that all night, until the sun finally started to creep up the horizon.

"Link! Get down here quick! I need your help!" I needlessly leaned out the window, seeing Fado down below.

"What's going on?" he seemed panicked for some reason.

"The goats are acting all weird, I can't get them to go back in their pins. Terrified one of the critters is gonna make a break for it!" I nodded and slipped into fresh clothes, slipping my boots on and sliding down the ladders. It took me a few minutes to saddle Epona up, tightly securing the saddle bag I had packed to her saddle before slipping onto the saddle. She started moving of her own accord, as if she knew what was going on. We trotted through the village, crossing one of the many bridges and passing right by the Mayor's house. My eyes instinctively slid up too Illia's window. She wasn't visible in it, but it was entirely possible that she was still asleep. I rubbed my back as the horse passed a few more houses already arriving at the goat corral. I could see the wheat fields on the far side, Mark already visible, tending to them. The Goats were all huddled in two's and threes around the field, and all looked terrified for some reason. "Hey Link, I'm so sorry to have to be asking you to round em up, but the darned things won't listen to me! They spent last night loose, I'm just thankful I haven't lost any."

"It's alright. Didn't sleep real well last night anyway." I grinned to him and urged Epona out into the field, Fado closing the gate behind me. Epona was so well trained by know, that I didn't even have to urge her, and she was grouping the sheep up and guiding them toward the pin. Within a minute, we had guided the sheep into their barn, and Fado was closing the gate.

"Thanks a million man. I can take it from here, you go get some rest. You got a long trip ahead of ya." I smiled and waved to him, dismounting and opening the gate for Epona. I slowly led her through town as people all around scurried about their morning business until I heard a familiar voice calling out to me

"Link! Good morning, have good night's sleep?" I grunted as she trotted over to me and Epona. She was wearing one of her nicer dresses this morning, one of her mother's old ones to be precise. It went down past her knees, snugly fitting most of her body, something that I definitely didn't complain about.

"Nope, not really. But thanks for the soup, it was as delicious as always." She let out a sigh of relief, her face already bright red, not that mine was far from hers in that regard.

"Yeah, I was hoping it would still be warm by the time you were home, just didn't want to be late getting home again." I smiled at her, suddenly realizing that I was going to miss her greatly over the five days I was going to be gone.

"It was fine. I got home as you were leaving. Was just too tired to say hi." She was about to respond as her father stepped out of their house, already speaking.

"Link! Are you ready to go young man?" I smiled to him, leaving Epona with Illia to speak with him.

"Yup everything but our gift for the royal family is packed up and ready." He smiled and clapped my shoulder.

"Good, good, get a good night's sleep after what happened yesterday?" I shrugged, and was about to speak when Illia's voice drifted to us.

"Link, Epona's hurt." My head snapped around, suddenly scared. I was about to rush over to see how badly when Illia started shouting. "You hurt her jumping fences again, didn't you!?" I winced and shied away, about to speak when Bo spoke up.

"Illia, calm down, it probably happened…" she cut him off, the sheer force of her voice hitting both of us harder than any sword ever could.

"Oh don't you defend him, _father_, you're supposed to be the mayor! Not someone encouraging dangerous behavior!" I peeked at Bo out of the corner of my eye. He was doing the exact same as me now, and I almost missed what she said next. "Come on Epona, let's take go a look at that wound." I suddenly snapped out of my fear, shouting at her retreating back.

"Illia, wait!" she ignored me as she led the horse away, across the village and off into the forest.

"Damn it, you gotta talk some sense into her! If you don't have Epona, you'll never get the royal gifts to Hyrule in time!" I sighed and began trotting after her. A minute or so passed and I reached my house again, to find Talo, Malo and Colin all in the clearing. Talo was swinging my training sword around like an idiot, Malo watching. Colin on the other hand, was pacing back and forth on the path to the spring.

"Talo, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he froze, staring at me in terror.

"I um, thought if I practice with this, I'd get as good as you. Although, if I had this yesterday, those monsters would've never stood a chance!" I chuckled slightly and ruffled his hair.

"Go nuts, just don't run off into the forest again, don't hurt yourself, and it better be here when I get back from Hyrule." Talo was practically bouncing as I walked over to Colin.

"I've never understood what he and the other kids find so fun about swinging sticks around all day." I grunted as he followed me out of the clearing.

"I can see the draw. Anyway, want to help me? Illia ran off with Epona, kinda need Epona back." he smirked as he followed me through the woods.

"Sure thing." Silence fell between us as we walked. Something about having him with me calmed me, as if I had a brother with me, rather than a friend. We arrived at the spring to find the gate sealed shut, Illia was with Epona on the other side.

"Oh go away you reckless ass!" I recoiled slightly at her shout as Colin squeezed under the gate, something I couldn't do.

"Go slip through that crevice over there, I'll try to talk some sense into her." I nodded and walked away, back up the ramp. There was a crawl space sized crevice in the ground that lead down to the spring. It was normally flooded with water, but over the summer it dried out. I crawled into it and snaked my way through, barely fitting. I finally slipped out into the spring and stood, brushing dirt off my trousers.

"I didn't know what happened yesterday. I… I can't believe he had to fight monsters to save Talo! I…" she froze as she saw me, a pained expression on her face. "Link, I… I'm sorry." I smiled and walked out into the water to her and Colin.

"It's alright. You were right about her getting hurt jumping a fence, but it was while I was saving Talo. How bad is it?" she sighed, patting the horse.

"Well come look. I stitched her wound and put a salve on it to prevent it from becoming infected. It wasn't deep, just a graze." It was just as she said, already clean and stitched up.

"I… thank you Illia." She smiled weakly, patting Epona's neck. The horse suddenly shook its head and walked over to me, nuzzling my shoulder.

"Still prefer your master over me huh?" the horse almost seemed to nod in confirmation and we both laughed. Suddenly, without warning, she launched forward, wrapping her arms tightly around me. "Link, just promise me you'll be careful, and that you'll both come home safe, please?" I smiled and wrapped my own arms around her, feeling her warmth, which seemed to just radiate out of her.

"Of course. We'll be fine." She squeezed me a little, sending shooting pain across my back. "Ow, back, nastily bruised from yesterday." She quickly let go, stepping back. Her face had turned a bright scarlet.

"Oh, um, sorry." I smiled to her and turned back toward the gate. There was a loud rumbling sound and all three of us focused on the gate. A split second later, the gate was smashed down by a boar, two strange green skinned creatures riding on its back. Their eyes were extremely close together, and seemed to glow red. They both had small horns on their heads, and fear leapt into my throat.

"Illia, Colin, run for the crevice!" not half a second after I spoke, the rearward creature aimed the bow in its hands and loosed an arrow. Time seemed to slow down as my eyes followed the projectile, past me and imbedding itself into Illia's shoulder. "Illia!" my shout was cut off as I felt something heavy slam into the back of my head, my vison blackening.


	6. Chapter 5

**so i will admit now, i wont be posting another chapter for a while, just letting this story sit as it is, and hopefully see how people like it.**

* * *

My eyes snapped open. Somehow, I had drifted to the edge of the spring, so I didn't drown. I sprang up, my eyes focusing on where Illia had fallen, but no one was there. Colin was gone too. The boar tracks led out of the spring and across the bridge, and I took off after them. Just across the bridge, a strange yellow and black barrier seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Confused, I slid to a stop, staring at the strange rectangular shapes and runes all across it. There was a circular symbol near the center of one of the upright rectangles, and I cautiously stepped closer to it. Suddenly, a massive black hand shot out of the circle and grabbed me around the chest, easily lifting me into the air and through the barrier. I stumbled to my feet on the other side, looking around. It was clearly the same woods I had always known, but everything now had a yellow tint to it, and the same strange rectangular runes I saw earlier were floating around the air around me. I was about to take a step forward when a shooting pain shot through my entire body, bringing me to my knees. The pain intensified until I collapsed, not even realizing how odd my body felt before I blacked out.

* * *

Midna floated outside the stone cell, staring lazily through the bars at the Wolf lying with in. he had white legs and paws with long grey streaks running along his flanks. His thighs, back and chest were all jet black, his head following the same pattern as his body. There was a strange pattern to the fur on his forehead, almost like an open center diamond, with a dot at the very center of the open space. She sighed as she waited, having watched the shadow beast's capture him near the edge of the twilight, and having seen him change from a human into the wolf now before her, unlike the rest of the humans in the twilight. The beast slowly stirred awake, groggily moving to stand until its eyes opened. Almost as if someone had poked it, the wolf jumped to its feet, freaking out. After a few seconds, it noticed the chain firmly attached to its leg and started biting and tearing at it.

"You'll never chew through that, ya know." The Wolf startled and glared at her, a low growl emanating from its throat. If she didn't know better, she'd say it was saying, _watch me_. Then again, it had once been a human, and might just be saying that.

"Well that's not very nice. Here I was, about to free you, but nope, not anymore!" the second she finished speaking, the wolf stood fully erect, it's head canting to one side and it's now erect ears mimicking the position. Even she had to admit, the expression was cute in a way. "Oh, well that's better!" she charged up a ball of energy, focusing on the chain connected to the wolf, then released it, blasting one of the links apart. It jumped slightly at the sudden blast, but didn't seem afraid of it.

"Tell ya what, you manage to get out of that cell on your own, and I'll help you find those friends of yours. Deal?" the Wolf nodded and looked around for a few seconds, not even noticing her phase through the iron bars. He latched his jaw on a shattered crate and yanked it aside, quickly digging a hole under the bars and into the hallway. She had risen up to the ceiling while he did so, suppressing a laugh as he looked around, bewildered. She suddenly dropped, landing just behind his shoulders and mounting him just as he would a horse. He let loose a vicious growl and started snapping at her and jumping, trying to shake her loose.

"Whoa there little wolfie, if you want my help, you gotta stop!" he did so and she continued "so you also gotta do exactly as I say, when I say it, you got that hun?" he nodded again, still snarling at her. "Good boy, now giddy up!" she dug her heels into his sides and he growled at her again.

* * *

The tiny creature dug her heels into my flanks and I snarled, glaring at her. _You do that again and I am so eating you!_ The small, creature, for lack of another word, had enough of a feminine build and voice that I felt safe to assume that she was female. She was also very short, only about half my normal height, although comparison was a little difficult at the moment. She also seemed to be stark naked except for a strange forked and cracked helmet, bearing similar runes to on the ones on the rocks back in the spring, one eye being covered by the helmet, the other being bright yellow with a red iris. Although, she showed no signs of having any private parts. Her body was mismatched black and white, waving up her body until her chest region, were her arms were black and the white formed V-neck shape, all the way to her eyes, where the black resumed. Her arms had strange green runes hovering above them, like those I had seen on the barrier, covering like gauntlets. She had a shock of brilliant orange hair, spewing out the top of her helmet and tied back in a ponytail. I grudgingly started moving down the hall again. There was no way I was opening a locked door with my teeth, but the other cell was unlocked, and inside was a sewage grate. I trotted over to it and slipped my right paw through, noticing that my birth mark was still on it, almost as if three triangles had been burned into the skin, the third stacked on top of the other two's points. The grate pulled out and I slid down the shaft, startled by the ghostly green spirit on the platform below.

"You see him, don't you?" I nodded and she continued to speak. "Yes, he is as he looks, a spirit of a soldier, but he can't see you! I wonder what he's doing down here?" she laughed manically as I listened to what the soldier was saying.

"No..no….. What are these black… creatures! And why can't I hurt them!" I glanced down the dark passageway seeing a small creature, about as big as the giant rats I had seen back in Ordon, but it was a tadpole shape with at least a dozen tentacles sprouting from it, using these to skitter across the floor toward me. I instantly pounced, locking it in my mouth and biting down as hard as I could. I was surprised when there was no spurting of blood, instead, the creature burst into a black cloud. "Wh-what? It..s…s g-g-gone? Oh thank the goddesses!" the spirit slumped to the floor, his entire body shaking.

"He can't hurt the creatures of twilight because he is just a spirit. Just the same as him not being able to see you. You can only see him because of those heightened senses wolves have. I can see him because I am of the twilight. Just thought I'd tell you." I was watching her as she spoke, seeing her wink at the end. Unable to do so physically, I mentally shrugged, not really understanding her words. I sprinted off into the sewers navigating them until the creature on my back yanked on my ears. I growled and snapped at her, but she shrugged it off.

"See those bars over there?" I was about to nod when she suddenly flew through the air, forming into a group of bubbles to pass through the iron bars and reforming on the other side. "Find your way over to me, then I'll take you to someone I think you should meet." I groaned and trudged back down the corridor, knowing that I needed to drain the sewers to dig through. I don't know how I knew that would work, but I did. I quickly found a closed off drain with a pull chain to raise it. Problem was, I didn't have hands. I stared at the chain for a few seconds before launching into the air, biting down with my mouth. My body weight was enough to work the system and the water rushed out of the sewer. After a few seconds I let go, trotting back to the bars and dropping off into the sewer passage. My paws tore at the earth until I managed to squeeze through, popping up in an earthen room with a doorway leading right where I wanted to go. As soon as I passed through the door, she dropped back onto my back, sending a shooting pain from where it was somehow still bruised.

"Alright, up the tower little doggie!" I growled and complied running up the spiral stairs. A short way below where I started, the tower had flooded, too deep to know how far it was to the bottom. I shrugged and kept running. Suddenly, the stairs beneath me started to collapse away and I barely managed to leap in time to reach solid stairs. A few more sections along the stairs had crumbled away already, but all were easy to jump. I finally reached a chamber at the top that had crumbled chunks of masonry all over. I used one as a step stool to leap up to an open window, stepping outside and into a raging rainstorm.

"Ah, the twilight is so nice at this time, too bad it's raining like it is." I simply trotted off the window sill and dropped to the wet ramparts below. Another spirit was ahead of me, and I got close enough to listen.

"Oh no, what has happened to our beautiful castle!" my thoughts ran rampant, suddenly realizing where I was. _Hyrule Castle_.

"Well, that's not who I want you to meet. You need to work your way to the tower over there!" I followed the line of her pointing finger and nodded. The wet ramparts and roofs were tricky to move across, but after a few minutes, and more than a few gut wrenching jumps, I managed to work my way over to it, dropping from an open window and into another spiral staircase. At the top was a door, cracked open enough that I was able to push it open. Inside, was an almost unfurnished room with a massive fire on one side, a bed on the other, and a small raised area with a single chair and a massive window. Standing on this raised area, staring out the window, was a tall figure wearing a long black cloak. Unlike everyone else I had seen, whoever this was, wasn't in spirit form. I let out a low growl as the creature lifted off my back and floated toward the figure. The figure turned around at the sound of my growl, showing enough of her face to let me know she wasn't a threat.

"Midna, it's good to see you. Although, I am curious as to why you are here, when every shadow beast in the kingdom is searching for you." Midna smirked as I stared at the woman, confused as to her identity.

"Yeah, I like to have my fun." The girl smiled at Midna, so faintly that I almost thought it wasn't there. "Aw, I feel graced, I earned a smile form you, your highness." It suddenly clicked in my mind who she was.

"A little one, perhaps. Is this who you have been looking for?" Midna shrugged, twirling a rogue strand of hair around her finger before tucking it away in her ponytail.

"Not exactly, but he'll do. He has no idea where is though." She giggled, another maniacal grin spreading across her face as my thoughts screamed in protest.

_I know exactly __**where **__I am! Hyrule castle, and if I would hazard a guess, you are princess Zelda. Although, I doubt either of you know that I know all of that! What I don't know, is what the hell is going on and why the hell I am a wolf!_ The woman smiled at me, winking.

"I think he knows more than you realize Midna. In answer to your question, a curse has been cast on this realm to place it in permeant Twilight, by an evil king from the twilight realm known as Zant. I was cursed so that I would remain myself, stuck as the ruler of a people doomed to roam the land as spirits. Unless light can be returned to this land, and Zant is defeated. I hate to ask this of you, young wolf, but I ask that you do your best to help Midna do this, who, although she has left them unspoken, has her own reason to hate Zant. I'm asking you to correct my mistake, as the ruler of this land." She dropped her hood as she said her final statement, revealing her long blonde hair and beautiful features. The crown resting on her head did nothing more than confirm my thoughts.

_I will do my best, your highness._ She smiled again, as if she could see my thoughts.

"I know you will, now, both of you must go! The guard will make his rounds again soon, and you need to be gone when he does, especially you, Midna." I nodded and was already headed for the door when Midna responded.

"See ya later, Twilight Princess!" I slipped back out the window, dropping to the roof below. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Midna had glided out to in front of me as she spoke. I canted my head at her, confused. She suddenly spun on the spot, and when she was facing me again, she no longer looked like herself, but like Illia, screaming in terror. I let out a vicious growl as she spun again, turning into Colin, and then back to herself, giggling.

"Well, if you're a good boy, I promise we will save your friends, and maybe your kingdom along the way!" I cut the growl, still angry with her. "Well, back home for you!" and she suddenly turned into the same rectangles I was seeing drifting through the air, just before shooting into the sky. A split second later, my own body felt like it was being rent apart.


	7. Chapter 6

**I'm sorry about how long it's taken me to write this section. i'm kinda unsure how to write the Wolf's perspective and all that. (I mean, i aint exactly been a dog before) and so i am trying to accelerate through these parts to get to what i really want to write. i just hope you guys enjoy it and please, leave your comments, i always love to hear them!**

* * *

I felt water on my legs and stomach as my body reassembled itself. All of my muscles were twitching as a searing heat was slowly fading from my body. I glanced around the Ordon spring, slightly confused and looking for the creature, Midna. I mentally shrugged and moved out of the water, through the smashed gate and was turning toward home when movement at my paws nearly made me jump. My shadow seemed to whip out in front of me, forming into Midna's shape, her eyes being the only thing not made of shadow.

"Thought I'd left ya, didn't ya?" I simply glared at her, knowing she was about to continue on her own. "Yeah, us Twili can't live in the world of light, so I'll be in your shadow. I see you are still a beast! Well, this will be fun. Alright, whatever you call a weapon in this world, I need you to find. Can you do that for me, hun?" I nodded and she continued. "Alright, now be quick about it!" she disappeared back into my shadow and I tried to sprint down the familiar path. Every time I started getting up to speed, I would trip or miss step, falling over and over as I relearned how to truly run. I finally reached the clearing my house was in to find two of those green skinned monsters trying to figure out how to get into the house. I lunged at them without hesitation, instinctively leaping at them and biting down on one of their throats. The startled creature fell back on the ground as I yanked out its throat. Almost black red blood filled my mouth with a horrible taste as I ignored it, dodging the clumsy mace swing the second creature launched toward me. Before it could react, and faster than I could have while still human, I latched my mouth on the mace and spun around it until my feet were on the creature's stomach. I pushed off with all of my strength, sending the creature tumbling away as I soared through the air, the mace firmly in my mouth. I cast it aside as I trotted around, bringing the other creature into my sight. It was panicking, trying to get back to its feet and go for its fallen comrade's weapon. Before it could reach it, I was already tackling it. It tried to protect its throat as I tore at its arms. Finally, I got ahold of its throat and yanked, feeling the neck snap.

_"You killed them! My, you are not like any wolf I seen before!"_ I did even flinch as I tried to spit all of the blood out of my mouth.

_"Wh-what the hell?"_ the strange voiced laughed. Or, that was the impression I got from the sound.

_"Up here Wolfie! Ya know, you seem new to this forest. And oddly smell like it already."_ I looked up on the landing of my house, seeing a chipmunk perched on the ledge and peering down on me.

_"I can understand you! And you're a Chipmunk!?"_ the animal laughed again.

_"of course you can! We animals can understand each other. Were you raised in a house or somethin'? If you're plannin' on goin' to the human village, I'd be careful. They been mighty jumpy since all them kids were snatched by those monsters."_ I froze, about to head into the village.

_"All of the children?!" _the chipmunk nodded before continuing.

_"Yeah, all of em little tykes. Everyone under eighteen winters was taken. And that horse, Epona, we don't know what happened to her either. Used to live in that pin there. I liked her."_ I sighed as I glanced at the empty pin.

_"Yeah, I liked her too. Thanks for the info."_ I trotted off down the path, moving as quietly as I could, which was scarily silent. Hanch, Sera's husband and Beth's father, was sitting on top of the store's roof, staring up at the stars above. I ignored him as I moved across the river, seeing Mayor Bo and the Mill owner, Jaggle, talking quietly by the entrance to Jaggle's house. I inched closer until I could hear what they were saying.

"About the shield, do you guys still have it?" Jaggle nodded at the sound of Bo's voice.

"Yeah, we do, it's still hanging in the attic. How is the shield going to help you? Rusl had a SWORD and he was still injured by one of those Bulbins!" the mayor glared at him as I inched forward.

"Not so loud. And our gift to the royal family was a sword, I'm going to go get it from Rusl house after the shield." I felt a twig crack under my paw and froze. The two of them stared at me, suddenly terrified. "TOO LATE! RUN!" I mentally chuckled as they scattered, sprinting off in two directions. I did a quick scope around the house to see if there was a way inside. One of the windows on top of the house had been left open. _If I can just get on top of Sera's shop, I may just make the jump to the water wheel and up onto the house itself, which would let me go through the window._ I slipped back across the river and froze as I heard a new voice.

"M-m-monster! I'm going to kill you for kidnapping my Beth!" my eyes widened as he raised the bow, the point drawing close enough to his hand to touch the arrow head with his finger. Hanch may not be good with a bow, but he was good enough to hit me at this range. I darted across the ground, weaving back and forth as he let the arrow fly. It flashed over my head, missing by less than an inch as I slid around one of the houses.

_"Hey, sorry about my master's husband, he's a bit jumpy right now." _I glanced over at the cat as it spoke.

_"Know a way onto the store's roof Link?" he started to trot away, around the small house and back toward the store._

_"Yeah, he scares easy. So just don't hurt him, kay?" _I nodded as he showed me a rock out cropping that I could easily jump from to the roof. I did so, landing softly and slipping behind Hanch and sat on down. A single bark echoed out of my muzzle, but for all he knew, it could have been a cannon going off behind him. He jumped, dropping the bow as he screamed his way off the roof. I was mentally laughing again, barely keeping from falling off the roof myself. I had scared him in the past, but never quiet that good. I leapt across the river, landing on the wheel and riding it up to the top, simply stepping off the roof. It was pitch black in the house, but my Wolf eyes let me easily see. The shield was on a wall straight across from me, so I walked across bare support beams, trying to not wake the sleeping occupants below. I managed to reach it and slip it off the wall. It took several minutes to quietly wrestle the shield into a relatively normal position on my back before I leapt out into the river below. I let it take me down stream, slipping under the bridges before sliding out of the water on the shore, close to Rusl's house. Rusl and Uli were on the porch, Rusl with sword and lantern in hand. One of his legs was heavily bandaged and I watched him with concern.

"It could have been the children Uli! I have to check it out. I won't leave the village, just stay here, and if you even think anything is after you, get inside and lock the door, okay?" Rusl's rushed voice drifted over to me as I slinked around the fire light and to the side of the house.

"Okay. Just be careful dear." I heard him start stumbling away, creating just enough noise for me to dig my way under their living room wall. They had recently been forced to pull up some of the boards in their living room, due to it rotting. I came out in the house and grabbed the sword off the couch before rushing back through the hole. And I was just in time, since I heard the door opening as I slipped back outside. The sword was much more difficult to slip on and I heard Rusl stagger onto the porch. "Rusl, something dug into the living room! I don't know if it's still in there or not!" I took that as my chance and sprinted away, not worrying about the noise I made until I was back in my clearing.

"Well, that was faster than I thought you'd take. I'm going to slip back into the twilight, just meet me where the shadow beasts first dragged you through, and I'll do the same for you." Midna had appeared in her shadow form in front of me again. I nodded to her and she disappeared. I ran back toward Faron woods when a voice in the spring stopped me.

_"Blue eyed beast! Come, enter my spring, there is not time!" _I complied, looking around the spring for the source of the voice. _"Beware! A shadow being approaches!"_ i started to growl as something formed in the sky above me, almost like the twilight wall, only a funnel in the sky. It was pulsing red as a dark mass slipped out of it and landed in the water in front of me. I had time to see that it moved on four limbs, the back two comically short for the front to, and it's face looked like a giant shield. I darted past, jumping at one of the massive stones in the back of the paws hit it and I leapt back at the creature with such speed that I managed to catch its side, rather than its front. I gnawed on its shoulder and back, tearing at the flesh and ripping it down to what felt like bone. Just like every other shadow creature I had fought, it did not bleed. It tossed my off in front of it, clumsily staggering toward me. Its right arm, so to speak, seemed to no longer work. I darted to its right side, biting into its leg and ripping it off its feet. It rolled over to fight me, only to have its throat ripped out. It exploded into green edged rectangles that shot into the sky and reformed the funnel, now green instead of red. _What the hell was that thing?_

_"That was a beast of the Shadow Realm, sent here to claim my light."_ The voice spoke in answer to my question. The water glowed, almost as if it was light itself as a massive round splash sent ripples through the spring. From the splash, came a glowing orb. Antlers formed around it, followed by a goat head, a wolf body, and a giant flat tail, looking like a giant fish tail. _"Brave youth, I know what you truly are. I am Ordona, one of four spirits sent by the gods to protect the land of light. My three brothers have already had their light stolen, swathing the land in shadow. This… twilight must be vanquished. Find my brothers in their springs, and help them regain their light. Only then, will the lands they watch over be cleansed of shadow." _I nodded, not fully understanding him, but knowing that he wasn't lying. He disappeared as quickly as he had come, the water returning to its normal clarity. I took a deep breath and trotted out to cross the bridge. On the other side, I found the same black wall I had been pulled through. I stopped at the wall staring at it with no idea what to do. Suddenly, a massive orange hand shot through the barrier, looking more like Midna's hair than a hand, and yanked me through.


	8. Chapter 7

**FINALLY! I have managed another chapter on this story! you dont want to know how long i was stuck on where exactly to take this, but should you be following my cross over story, Wandering Warriors, it gave me the idea as to how to continue this story. i hope yall enjoy this chapter and please, do let me know how i'm doing!**

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Midna dropped onto the Wolf's back as he was standing up, the weapons he had recovered in her hands. She had the big flat piece on her face, and the long skinny one in her hand how she had seen the man in the village wielding it.

"So do you really think these 'weapons' can harm a shadow beast?" he was growling as he looked at her. Just as fast as the growl came, it was replaced by the entire wolf shaking, almost like he was laughing. "Oh well, I'll just hang onto these for ya." A snap of her fingers caused the weapons to burst into particles. He started trotting forward until he reached one of the clearings, where large jagged pillars suddenly appeared, a rune wall blocking them in. she smirked and fluttered into the air as three shadow beasts dropped out of a portal. "Well, get to it little wolfie!" he didn't even glance up at her, simply watching the shadow beasts lumber forward. One of the creatures lunged at him, but he was already gone, leaping onto its back and tearing at its spine. It slumped to the ground, dead. Before it had even hit the ground, he was leaping at the next one. He landed at its feet, rather than on it like both Midna and the Shadow beast seemed to have expected. The shadow beast screamed as he leapt up, right under its arms. Its throat came out, just before the final one howled with rage. He easily ran past it, grabbed its leg, and ripped it out from under the beast. The howl was cut off as he ripped its throat out. "Hmm not bad wolfie. Let's get going." She dropped back onto his back as he took off running, nearly unseating her. The rune wall had disappeared when the last shadow beast fell. They arrived at a spring, feed by a river and water fall. A drop of light appeared, already speaking.

_"Blue eyed beast… my light has been stolen, and only you can slay the beasts of twilight. I will give you this vessel of light. Once you have slain the beasts that hold my light, twilight will be banished from this world. Once you have done that, return the vessel to me. Your… companion, can help you find them, now go!"_ he accepted the vessel, Midna instantly grabbing it.

"Just gonna hang on to this, since you don't exactly have a way too." He rolled his eyes and took off. She was already sensing them out, helping him find the tiny bugs, where ever they were hiding. The first few were terrorizing a human at his lantern shack. He didn't stop until he reached a swamp area, filled with poisonous gas. He looked around for a bit before leaping from branch to branch, avoiding the gas altogether. He reached the other side and Midna looked around, confused. She could feel the bugs around her, but she could not see them. Puzzled, she was about to speak when the Wolf started digging in the mushy soil, easily finding the bugs and mashing them with his teeth. She collected the glowing blue orbs that appeared every time he killed one until she couldn't sense anymore in her immediate vicinity. She held up the curled vessel in front of both of their faces, inspecting the bulbous spheres that sprouted off its plant like stem. All but two were glowing brightly.

"Well Wolfie, two to go." She glanced up at the sky, realizing that it was starting to lose it's yellow. She sighed as she guided the wolf through the smashed gate, toward the final two bugs. They were on a platform that looked like it was the entrance to a temple of some sort. A monkey was standing on one of two short pillars, covering her eyes and squealing as two bugs skittered around the pillar. The Wolf easily pounced and killed both, causing the monkey to slowly calm down as Midna collected the blue Orbs. As soon as she had, she felt the twilight shroud start to break, and slipped into the Wolf's shadow. The monkey jumped ten feet in the air when it saw the Wolf, shrieking and jumping higher into the tree.

* * *

I trotted through the woods, easily reaching the small spring that the spirit lived at. The small branch like vessel appeared on the ground before me. I scooped it up in my mouth and trotted forward into the water. After a few seconds, I felt the branch start to tug itself out of my mouth and I released it, watching as it floated out before me. As it raised high into the air, the spring glowed much as the Ordon spring had, the same droplet bouncing into the air to form a creature that looked much like a monkey or lemur with an extremely long thick tail, coiling around the glowing Orb it was perched on.

_"Blue eyed beast! You have restored my light, for which I will be for ever thankful!" _the light from the pool grew as he spoke, to the point that it was blinding me. _"For your brave actions, I am cleansing the darkness from your body, so you might walk amongst men once more!"_ I instinctively raised my hand to shield my eyes from the light, freezing as I realized that I had a hand again. As the light faded again, I discovered that my body had returned to normal, but at the same time, I was now clothed very differently, wearing white long sleeves and pants under a chainmail tunic and a green cloth one. Over my wrists were thick leather vambraces, my hands covered by fingerless gloves. The only thing I seemed to still be wearing were my old knee high leather riding boots, feeling amazing compared to bare paws on the ground. I smiled as I inspected my self, just realizing that I also had the sword and shield I had stolen on my back, already strapped into place. A belt was also around my waist, with several small pouches on it. on my head was a long green cone cap as I had nicknamed them. Something that myself personally hated but I figured I might as well fully fit the part.

"Thank you, spirit. I bet you cant imagine how good it feels to be human again." The spirit seemed to laugh heartily before it continued.

_"Yes, it must feel quite good. The clothes you now where once belonged to the hero of old. I expect you will live up to the expectations laid before you by the last human to wear those garments. As it is, these woods have not been cleansed of darkness. A darkness that only you can cleanse. You will also find what she seeks there, I only hope that entrusting it to you is not a grave mistake, shadow being."_ I knew he was referring to the thing that had been following me around and 'helping' me, I nodded to him as he began to fade away, the water dropping back into the spring.

"You can count on me." I sighed as the light fully faded, marching out of the water and onto the sand. "Well, where to now, Midna." She popped up, the same shadowy form she had used while I was a wolf.

"Dang, I was liking you being my obedient little silent doggy." I glared at her, crossing my arms.

"I'm only here to save my friends. No more." She shrugged again, already speaking.

"You remember that stupid monkey that was freaking out about those bug things? We gotta go back there." I nodded, starting to walk back toward Ordon.

"Alright. I'll get there, eventually. So what exactly are…." My voice stopped as I realized that she was gone. "Or not, okay." I shrugged and moved off down the path, headed home. It took the better part of an hour to reach my tree house, unable to keep from smiling when I reached it. that smile disappeared when images of Illia inside, joking and laughing with me as she cooked the two of us dinner, drifted through my mind. My heart dropped even more as I realized that the odds of ever experiencing that again was very low. And the empty stable beside the house was of no comfort either. I turned away from the house, headed down the path that lead to the town itself. It didn't take me long to reach it, and the sun was near halfway through the sky, making me realize just how long it took for me to move around the forest and hunt down the bugs. _And the other provinces are even larger, I hope those bugs try to stick together, otherwise, I have a very long road ahead of me._ I sighed, lost in thought for a second before a shout caught my attention.

"Link!? Is that you!?" I saw Uli's pregnant form my the river, the basket of food in her arms dropping to the floor. I couldn't find words to speak with, simple trotting over and hugging her smaller frame, happy to see her.

"Yeah, it's me Uli." I let go of her as I finally managed to speak. She was covering her mouth as tears leaked out at an incredible rate.

"You… you look so different! And it's only been a few days!" I didn't know what else to do but smile. Other villagers were gathering around, shouting questions about their children until I managed to work up the courage to shout over the din.

"Everyone! I don't know where the other children are! I'm sorry! All I can say is that I intend to find them and bring them home!" the crowd fell silent, all staring at me, half shocked, half pained expressions on their faces. A voice spoke up from the crowd, one that I recognized as Mayor Bo's.

"But how will you find my Illia? Or the other children!? We have no idea where they went!" I sighed, putting my hands on my hips. Even though my voice was quiet when I finally spoke, everyone was so silent that it carried to every ear in the area.

"I don't know, Mayor. But I will. Whatever it takes to find them." _Especially her._ that thought raced out of it's own accord, freezing me for a second. "I promise." The whole town was silent, just before Sera suddenly lunged forward and hugged me, thanking me. Others followed suit, an almost shouting their thanks, completely bewildering me until the Mayor shouted.

"Alright, Alright, settle down people! Give him some space!" once they quieted and backed off, the Mayor beckoned for me to follow him.

"Link, come with me. We should speak privately." I nodded and followed, easily catching up as the crowd dispersed again, going back to their daily tasks. "I see you recovered the sword and shield. A monster came through last night and stole them, but you should keep them. You will definitely need them." I nodded as he lead the way to his home, following him into it's living room.

"So what do you know of the kidnapping's?" I shrugged, thinking back to what happened at the spring.

"I was at the spring, with Illia and Colin, when this boar riding goblins attacked. They shot Illia in the shoulder…" I froze for a second, the memory of her shrieking in pain in my mind. "Then I got hit in the head. By the time I came too, they were gone. I rushed after the tracks and…" I froze again, unable to figure out exactly what to say. "a day or so ago, I lost track of them. So I came back." Bo nodded, pacing back and forth.

"Hmm. I would try Kakoriko Village. At worst, they will have people and soldiers there who could help us. At best, they may know where the children were taken. I know the elder there, he would never turn away someone in need." I nodded as I listened, just waiting for him to finish. "You'll need supplies, food, water, your horse…" I cut him off, already speaking.

"I don't know where Epona is. She disappeared with Colin and Illia." Bo cursed, clearly lost in thought. "Bo, I can handle myself, alright? You gave me what I needed. I'll come back if I find anything, okay?" he nodded before slumping into one of the chairs. I moved toward the door, stopping with my hand on the door handle, his voice stopping me.

"You.. You will bring her home, right?" I looked back at him, unable to do much more than look him in the eye.

"Yes. You know I will." With that, I turned the nob and stepped through the door, headed back for the woods.


	9. Chapter 8

**I'm sorry i've taken so long to post on this, a good chunk of this has been written for a while, just been having trouble actually finishing it. anyway, hope you are like my twists on the tale, and i really hope yall leave some feed back on this story! seriously, this story seems to be my most popular ever, in terms of favs and veiws per chapter, but i get near no feed back on it!**

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It took considerably longer than it should to reach Faron's spring, my mind wandering to wonder how I was going to find any of the children, having no clue where they could have gone. I sighed as my feet carried me through the short cave out to the cross roads leading to the rest of the kingdom and the main forest. _Well, maybe this Midna really can help find them, and worst comes to worst, I help stop whatever is going on in the kingdom._ My feet carried me on, my hand instinctively sliding the sword out of the sheath on my back, a little clumsier than I would have liked. The sword felt heavy in my hand, being so used to the hardened wooden stick rather than a steel blade. I stopped in the mouth of the cave that lead to the woods, taking a few swings with the weapon, trying to get a good feel for it. after several swings, I felt satisfied enough to move on, trotting through the cave an into the forest. I noticed a strange smell as I left the cave, a strange purple mist coating the area. The smell was now extremely intense, reeking almost like a rotting corpse. Most of the fog was focused below me, the cave exit being raised up off the marsh. I was about to walk further, down toward the fog when my shadow suddenly disappeared, Midna's shadow form appearing in front of me.

"Are you stupid, don't go down there, that mist is poison! don't you remember it from being a wolf?!" I raised an eyebrow at her, stopping where I was.

"No, I honestly stopped paying attention for a while there!" she shrugged at me, crossing her legs as she spoke.

"Seriously, I figured the smell would make you avoid it. Guess humans are stupider than I thought." I grunted, glaring at her.

"Humans are not. Or, well, some of us aren't that is." Midna giggled her one visible eye closing. "Alright, shut up, how the hell am I supposed to cross this poison fog?" Midna stopped laughing and shrugged, dancing a few meters away.

"How am I supposed to know? I'm not even from this world. Maybe you can figure it out." I groaned, noticing that the sun was starting to set. I sighed, wishing I had a lantern on me. Almost as if on que, my lantern appeared on my belt, the weight of it drawing my attention.

"The hell just happened?" I grabbed the lantern off my belt, completely and totally confused. Midna was giggling at me again, earning her another glare. "Well if you would like to explain, be my guest." She floated up to me, going behind me a little. She poked at a pair of pouches on my belt for a couple of seconds, speaking quickly.

"Well, near as I can tell, these two pouches are enchanted. You could store loads of stuff in these, and access it with nothing more than a thought. That's magic for ya." I grunted, barely paying attention as I lit the lantern.

"Is there any way to tell what's in them?" Midna laughed again, poking at them still.

"Yeah, just some basic food right now, some water too. I might cook you up a spell you could use to know at some point here, if you're good." I grunted, about to speak when my lantern was suddenly jerked from my hand.

"Hey!" I shouted as I watched the monkey ran toward the mist with the lantern in hand, the mist parting and fading as if the light was pushing it away. It looked back at me, beckoning me forward. I smiled, starting to make my way toward the monkey. "Clever girl." Before I had made it even ten feet, Midna was speaking in her high pitched, almost childlike voice again.

"Well, I guess you are one of the stupid humans." I was about to glare at her when I realized she was gone. I shrugged, following the monkey through the mist, who would run ahead every so often, swinging the lantern in wide arcs to dispel the fog. I clumsily slid the sword away as I glanced behind us, seeing the fog slowly drifting back into place behind us. I shrugged, guessing that I could easily use the lantern to get back through. I felt the ground tilting up again, rising out of the mist and up to the smashed gate that lead to the temple. The light from the lantern faded, the monkey shaking the lantern before it dropped it, jumping away into the trees. I sighed and scooped the lantern back up, another sigh slipping out as I opened the oil port to find it almost dry.

"Joy." I shrugged, opening the larger of the two pouches and slipping the lantern in it. almost as if on cue, it disappeared from my hand, feeling nothing in the pouch. I smirked, knowing how useful that was going to be. It didn't take me long to cross into the ravines, finding more of the bokoblins in the clearing. There were only two, my hand shooting up to grab the blade off my back, the movement no longer feeling clumsy. In one smooth motion, I brought the blade out, releasing the clasp holding the shield in place in the same motion. Almost as if I had practiced the motion, the shield fell off my back, my hand catching the handle on it to toss it lightly in front of me. Without missing a breath, I easily slid my arm through the leather strap on the shield, just before grabbing the grip again, so that the shield was properly seated on my arm. I had no time to rest as the two creatures were already upon me, one swinging wildly at me with it's odd blade. Instinctively, I knocked the blow away and rammed the shield into it. it stumbled back, unable to react to the sudden slash across it's chest that followed, spattering blood across the grass as it fell. The second creature was wielding a hammer like object, too crude to really consider it as much of a weapon. I easily side stepped the clumsy swing it used, jabbing it twice in the chest with the sword, smirking as it fell to the ground, dead. The other creature was still squealing so I stepped over to it, ramming the sword through it's throat to silence it, inadvertently slicing it's head clean off. I gave the severed head a grimace before I continued on, not bothering with putting my weapons away. I had a sinking feeling that I was going to need them a lot inside the temple that I could already easily see.

* * *

Mark clinched and unclenched his fists as he walked, his hands bound together by rope, and tied to a longer section, every child from Ordon he knew. His stomach seemed to have disappeared as fear continued to eat away at him. All he could think about was the small hunting knife he kept stashed in his boot, and kept glancing at the creatures forcibly marching them, hoping for the opportunity to go for the blade and make a break for it. him self and the around twenty or so others had suddenly been dragged out of their beds days ago, dragged off into the night by the creatures of a nightmare. As far as he could tell, only people under the age of eighteen had been taken, including a three month old that a terrified beth was now cradling in her own bound arms. The only three kids from Ordon he had yet to see was Link, Colin, and Illia. Himself, Illia and Link were the oldest of that bunch. They had been marching across Hyrule since, not even sure where they were going, none of them having ever left Ordon before. The creature at the front of the group raised it's fist, halting the group. They had occasionally stopped moving to feed their prisoners, usually so little that there was barely enough to be spread around. But it had been less than an hour since the last stop, making Mark realize that this was something else. He tried to look around without drawing attention to himself, noticing a dust cloud approaching them from behind, several shapes kicking the dirt up. They were in the middle of a massive open clearing, unable to see the woods any more. There was the occasional tree out here, but the most prominent life was grass. There was a river to his right as well, a stone structure marking a bridge crossing it. He watched the shapes grow closer, several of the prisoners sitting down and leaning on each other, trying to take this chance to rest their exhausted bodies. Finally, he could make out the shape of the blobs, two of the three being boars, carrying the same creatures guarding them. The third was a massive boar, at least twice the size of the others, with an equally larger creature, his horns, unlike the small horns on the other creatures, were massive, comparable to those on a bull. And the two trailing boars had eerily shaped lumps bouncing on their hind quarters, likely lashed in place. Every set of eyes seemed to be riveted to the approaching creatures, all three coming to a stop just a couple of meters from the group of children. Mark froze as he realized what was lashed to the two boars, able to recognize Colin and Illia the instant the creatures had stopped. Both were covered in thick layers of dust, but his eyes remained locked on the dark crimson soaking the cloth over Illia's shoulder. There was a broken shaft of wood sticking from her shoulder, Mark's brain panicking.

_Please, please just let her be alright!_ He couldn't stop that though as the massive creature atop the largest boar shouted, surprisingly in a language Mark could understand, as poorly worded and spoken as it was.

"Those! With other! Now!" the rearward two of the four creatures riding the smaller boars climbed down, untying the leather holding their 'cargo' in place. They gruffly yanked the off the boars, the one grabbing hold of Illia injured side. She screamed as she was roughly yanked off the boar, shaking Mark to the bone.

"Leave her alone!" Mark couldn't stop his sudden angered outburst, snarling defiantly at his captors. The largest of the creatures just smirked and laughed, it's deep guttural voice causing him to falter, instinctively stepping back. The movement only made it laugh harder, the two creatures dragging Illia and Colin stepping onto either side of Mark.

_Now's our chance! I gotta act!_ Even with that though, he hesitated, frozen in fear. He barely managed to shrug it off, dropping to his knee and yanking the small blade from it's place, the slim and familiar wooden handle easily spinning in his hands to cut his own bindings. In a flash, he had sliced at the creature holding Illia, almost black red blood spilling from the wound. It howled as he sliced the rope they were all bound too, trying to shout over the howling creature.

"RUN FOR THE BRIDGE!" no one needed a second invitation, all of them sprinting away, the ropes binding the other's hands together easily slipping off the guide rope as Mark jammed the small knife into the second dismounted creature's chest, causing it to let go of Colin. He left the blade there, shoving the first creature out of his way as he grabbed Illia, running for the bridge as fast as he could, almost dragging her after him. He was shocked as he reached the bridge, unhindered as of yet, finding the actual bridge to be made of wood, the water below rushing past. The gasping of Illia beside him, caused him to stop, glancing worriedly at her. He saw her for the barest trace of a second before they were shoved apart, a boar passing between them. he heard her shriek, hearing her start to say his name before a loud thunk overpowered the sound of the boars hooves on the wood, cutting her off. Once he could see her again, what he saw froze him in his tracks, watching in horror as her feet disappeared over the rail of the bridge, a splash marking her hitting the water. "ILLIA!" his feet carried him to the other side of the bridge, all other thoughts lost. He barely even noticed the sound of the horn behind him, or the boar rushing back across the bridge. His focus was entirely on the water below "Illia…." Tears started to streak down his face, trying to fight who ever was pulling him away from the railing.


End file.
